Instructions
The quality of what you learn from a conversation depends almost entirely on how you prepared for it. Bad questions produce bad answers. Leading questions produce confirmation of what you already believe. And questions that are too broad produce polite, non-committal responses that sound useful but aren't.
Good validation conversations are designed to surface honest answers, not flattering ones. The person you're talking to wants to be helpful — which often means they'll tell you what they think you want to hear. Your job is to make it easier to tell you the truth. That means asking open questions, inviting stories from the past rather than predictions about the future, and resisting the urge to pitch or explain.
This exercise gives you a structure to prepare properly and capt...
